Wall Street is looking to get an advantage over Silicon Valley in the ongoing race in the race for talent from tech.
- Wall Street firms plan to employ thousands of tech employees this year.
- The recruitment process at startups as well as Big Tech has been hampered by a declining market.
- However, securing talent from an area that is popular for its laid-back and work-from-anywhere-anywhere lifestyle won’t be simple.
Wall Street is not known to shy away from the fight -which can be useful as big financial institutions prepare to top tech companies both big as well as small, in the current battle to find tech-savvy talent.
Since the beginning, the tech industry has been taking Wall Street’s meal in the search of such talented individuals. This applies to new tech startups, fintechs or incumbents in the tech industry Big banks have witnessed their fair share of high-ranking executives leave for companies that promise rapid growth, lucrative salaries and more flexible working conditions.
But this year has proved extremely unkind to both the tech industry, both private and public and Wall Street execs who have already complained about how difficult it is to hire has become , are eager to assert their advantage when their rivals cut staff or implement hiring freezes.
Since January 1st the technology-centered Nasdaq Composite Index is down around 30 percent. The second quarter of venture capital funding for startups dropped 26% compared to the prior quarter Crunchbase news reported in the month of January. Multiple fintechs, from Robinhood to Coinbase to Klarna and Klarna, have announced job losses or recruitment freezes. Big Tech isn’t immune, with Facebook and Twitter announcements of their own freezes in the spring.
The scene is set for the hiring tide to change and the banks have not been shy about their plans to enter the fray.
But getting all of them to finance can be a struggle since banks are trying to compete with the once modest salaries and the flex cultureof tech firms. Although some financial institutions have expressed an interest in the remote working environment which became commonplace in the aftermath of the pandemic for instance, others have maintained that the workplace is the most ideal location to work.
In addition to the compensation and perks, it might be difficult for financial firms to match the romance of life in the beginning.
Even though they had an offer to withdraw from Coinbase earlier in the year an ex-employee of a major bank said Insider they weren’t discouraged from their desire to quit Wall Street for the startup world.
Banks are ready to strike as tech job openings slow down
In the course of the outbreak, financial companies both on the buy as well as sell side were faced with what some believe was an extremely competitive market for tech talent for a long time when compensation soared across the entire industry.
It’s not been easier when it comes to banking, Stuart Riley, the chief technology officer for the global division of the Citi Institutional Clients Group, stated to Insider in the month of June.
Todd Cassidy, CIO of associate experience and chief of staff for the technology department within Capital One, told Insider that banks are impacted through “a huge imbalance of supply and demand” -or perhaps, there are too many technologists, with numerous jobs to fill.
The banking giants haven’t been stopped from hiring huge numbers of technology companies or from filling up seats, though they are less quickly than other companies would prefer.
Capital One hired 3,000 technologists in 2021. They have “hundreds” of open roles that are available now, Cassidy said.
In the meantime, Citi has said it intends to hire 4,000 technologist within its institutional clients division in the first quarter alone. Other firms such as Wells Fargo and TD Bank have made it clear that they plan to recruit many thousands of technology professionals.
The range and depth of technology needed for running a bank is significantly different from what it was just a few years or 5 years ago. The pandemic has accelerated two trends toward digitization and the cloud, which now need different types of technology capabilities and experience. Chief information officers, thought of in the past to be the ” back end IT person that was managing your desktop” are being recognized as the key decision makers and banks are gaining inspiration and talent and inspiration, Big Tech giants.
“Now the whole process is getting reorganized. That’s where the technologists and the thinkers come into play.”
Wall Street firms are now anticipating that the volatility in the crypto and tech markets will change the odds to their advantage.
“There’s no question — the companies that have committed to digital-asset strategies need talent and they see this as an opportunity for sure,” Todd Taylor, who oversees the global practice of financial services at the search company Heidrick & Struggles, told Insider. He cited an executive from an asset management company with a multi-trillion-dollar turnover that focuses on digital assets. He said the current tech sector chaotic “an opportunity.”
“Banks could be a safe haven,” Taylor added.
Here’s the reason Wall Street might have trouble
Although banks have been open in their determination to hire thousands of people from the tech industry providing a job that can be comparable to the salaries and lifestyle of startups could be a difficult task.
